How Great Train Robbers pulled off the crime of the century

Share via

Police at the scene of the robbery in 1963Evening Standard/Getty Images

2 of 10

The mail train was carrying huge numbers of used banknotesGetty Images

3 of 10

The train was stopped at 3am at a set of fake signalsGetty Images

4 of 10

An aerial view of the travelling post office train after the robberyGetty Images

5 of 10

The scene of the Great Train RobberyGetty Images

6 of 10

A series of blunders almost put paid to carefully laid plansGetty Images

7 of 10

They then fled to Leatherslade Farm 25 miles awayGetty Images

8 of 10

The gang stole £2,631,684 in used notesPA

9 of 10

Twelve of the robbers were jailed for a total of more than 300 yearsGetty Images

10 of 10

Leatherslade Farm at Oakley, Buckinghamshire, was used as a hideoutGetty Images

Times staff

Last updated at 9:42AM, December 18 2013

Ronnie Biggs will always be remembered for his role in the Great Train Robbery - immediately dubbed the “crime of the century” after the gang grabbed banknotes worth £2.6 million - £46 million in today’s terms.

The mastermind behind the operation, career thief Bruce Reynolds, assembled at least 15 hardened criminals - including Biggs - for the job he called the “big one”.

Reynolds’ plan was to hold up the night mail train from Glasgow to Euston as it passed through the Buckinghamshire countryside close to Cheddington. It was carrying huge numbers of used banknotes.